Meet me by the Moonlight Alone
by Inphemera
Summary: Marauders era AU. Fifth year. Remus Lupin was never a marauder and has no friends at Hogwarts. What will happen when he finds himself in detention with the popular Sirius Black? /Slash / T for language /
1. Meeting

Monday. Remus Lupin hated Mondays so much.

He walked towards the torture room with all the others students without talking to anyone. _Damn teenagers_, he thought as they ran pass him shouting and laughing together. Remus was definitely a solitary person, he hated crowds and preferred being quite than talking just for the sake of it. That is, unlike many people at his school, particularly in his very own house. He wasn't even sure why he was a Gryffindor. As far as he knew, it did not suit him at all.

But there was still a gap between not being very social and having people picking on you all the time. It was maddening, as if being a werewolf and spending at least two days a month in the infirmary wasn't enough of a burden!

He entered the classroom and sat down in a corner, as far as he could from where the Quidditch team members usually sit. People were entering the classroom and waving at him with the usual irony and contempt. And lastly: Them. The Quidditch team. Handsome, popular… and freaking despicable. One of them spat a chewing gum at Remus' desk as a form of greeting. In response, he took a piece of parchment and got rid of it without saying a single thing to the other boy.

"How was you Hogsmeade weekend? Did you have a date?" One of the Prewett brothers said with a horrible tone. James Potter - commonly known as Potterboy - laughed next to him.

"Would you please mind your own business?"

"Such bad manners Lupin! Here you have me showing an interest in your pathetic live and you…"

"You are perfectly well aware that I do not go out. And I might have a pathetic live, but I am not pathetic myself, unlike others." he spat.

"Hey you, insect, pay some respect."

"Shup up prick. "

"Guys, chill. Will you? Fabian… leave it alone."

That have just been Sirius Black's comforting voice. A boy his age who was also in the Quidditch team, the beater. It was not normal for Black to try to stop someone from insulting Remus, but he did not usually join when someone was picking on him either. Remus hated him anyway, for being friends with Prewett and Potter, who would not stop giving him hell.

"Gods Sirius, you don't let me have any fun."

"Why don't you two just go shag and have some fun that way?" said Remus. It had been a hurtful comment and he knew it. Black's coming out had been a big shock for all the school and some people were still not very open to accept him. Remus did not want to hurt him, really. It had just come out of his mouth like that.

"Hey, Lupin, let's not go off limits here." Black said, looking at him angrily.

"Me? Ha!"

"What the fuck is your problem? Wouldn't that be that the one who wants to shag him is you and you are too afraid to come out, you little poof? You like him, don't you?" Prewett said pushing Black against Remus and laughing.

"Just leave me the fuck alone already!" he said avoiding Black and jumping at Prewett.

Next thing he knew, they were hitting each other on the floor. Until someone took a good grab of Remus and hold him in the air. It was Black… _Stupid jerk, protecting his stupid friends._ Right in that moment, Professor McGonagall entered the classroom asking for an explanation.

"I… I was having a fight with Prewett. Is it a crime? I was just defending myself" Remus tried to justify himsef.

"Mr. Lupin, manners. Mr. Prewett?" she asked.

"Me? Do you see me doing anything?"

"It was me Professor. Lupin was having a fight with me."

"Well, Mr. Black I have to admit and expected different from you. Detention, both of you. Two hours on the afternoon, every day for a month. And 20 points from Gryffindor."

"Two hours?" Remus squeaked.

"What? How many points?"

"Let it be three hours!" she said closing the door loudly.

Prewett gave a brotherly pad on Black's back.

"Thanks for that Sirius, you are a mate."

"That's what we are here for. But you owe me one Fabian."

Was it really worth it to be in detention during tons of hours for a friend who wouldn't even return the favour if the opportunity shown?_ Fuck_. He was on detention himself. With Black! Remus had to admit that it was better than having detention with Prewett but still…

"You will pay for my friend's detention." Prewett said with a finger pointing threatening at Remus' chest.

"Me? You could have easily avoided his detention."

"You will pay. That's all I'm saying."

Could things be going any worse? _Ok. Let's look at the bright side… which bright side? Well, there has to be one._ Remus told himself.

The afternoon, and consecently his detention, was already there and Remus was walking around the corridors where a very small number of people were still around. And the few that were, avoided Remus as much as they could.

Black was on the entrance of the classroom talking to Potter. Bro support and all that, Remus guessed. He tried to keep on walking taking advantage of the fact that they were talking about some bird Potter seemed interested in. He entered the classroom to find a welcoming committee made of the Quidditch team and some other friends of Black.

"So you are showing up, huh?" said Potter behind him, entering the classroom and walking in front of him.

"Please. Leave me alone."

"I'm assuming you remember Fabian telling you that you were going to get what you deserve, right? I would be watching my back if I were you."

"I just want to go sit down, ok?"

"You are dead Lupin." Added Prewett.

"Leave it already, will you? This is how things are now. I am not going to get depressed just because I have to be here… every day… for three hours… an entire month! Oh God." Black said, letting himself fall on a chair with eyes wide open.

"We are with you mate. We'll steal some firewisky and get drunk on the weekend, how does that sound?" Potter said.

"Always such good ideas Potterboy!" Black grinned widely.

Remus finally walked towards the sit near the window at the end of the classroom. Five minutes later, McGonagall came into the classroom waving everyone out except for him and Black, who opted for sitting as far away from each other as possible.

"Well, I am assuming that you know that this morning display was completely out of boundaries and that you deserve this punishment. I hope that you are going to use this time for something good. If there is any sort of problem between the two of you again I am going to take drastic measures. Did I made myself clear?"

"Yes Professor." Remus answered with a 'good-boy' voice.

"Good. I do not expect any issues then." And with that, she left the classroom leaving the boys on their own.

_Is this the punishment? Having me here with this twat for three hours?_ Remus thought, wondering what the hell have happened to copying something over a thousand times or polishing the trophies the muggle way. He hadn't taken any book with him so the next three hours were definitely going to be boring and useless. Black stood up and started walking around the classroom. Remus realized that they boy had his History of Magic textbook on his bag and he wanted to ask for it to take advantage of time that he had to spend in there.

Black was around his thirtieth walk around the classroom when he started drawing ridiculous things on the blackboard. He sat at the teachers desk and started looking trough the drawers. And then, he began doing origami figures with some parchment. Meanwhile, Remus was still gathering the courage to ask him for the book. _Oh, come on, what do you have to lose? It is not like people are treating you right so…_

"Err… hey," he realised at his voice sounded weird and coughed a little, "could I borrow your History book?"

"What?"he jerked his head up to look at the boy.

"Nothing. Forget it."

"No, what did you say?"

- Silence -

"Hello?"

"Hello."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. Really. Just forget about it. Ok? I do not feel like being scoffed at right now. Just keep on doing those amorphous birds."

"They are not amorphous!" He said looking down at his creations for a couple of seconds. "Seriously, what did you want?"

"Your History book, do you mind if I borrow it?"

"No. Of course not." he got up to take it out of his bag. "There you go" he threw the thing at Remus who missed it by two inches.

_I hate my reflexes._ Black looked at him as if he were from another planet. Whatever. At least he had the book now. He bended over to recover it and opened it in the lesson they were currently studying. At least, he was going to have a hell of good grades this month.

* * *

The next day was fairly normal. Like any other day, though people were not picking on Remus so much, which was not at all reassuring. Truth be told, he was far more worried about the threats he had been receiving that he cared to admit.

Two o'clock. Two and three seconds. Two and twenty seconds. Two and a minute… when was the stupid class going to finish? He did not even know what he wanted it to finish for. Once it did finish, he realised that he wasn't feeling like going to the Great Hall to have lunch, so he just went outside and ate a couple of fruits he had in his bag and immediately headed back to the classroom where he had detention. He sat down in the same place that he had been sitting in the previous day. He took out his Runes notes and started going through them until Black noisily entered the classroom. Five minutes late.

"Has someone come? Did they say anything?"

"Chill. I have been here around fifteen minutes already and nobody has shown a sign of remembering that we have to be here."

"Oh. Good."

Ten minutes later Filch walked the corridor past the class making sure that the students were there. It was only the second day and Remus was already feeling uncomfortable for spending so much time with Black. He was even considering that it might had been better to be in detention with Fabian Prewett, at least he would have been insulting him and he would been at least talking to someone.

Remus just could not stand how indifferent this boy was to everything. But it was only natural. What did he have to care about? He was popular, he had friends, he was on the Quidditch team, he was handsome and probably had many girldfriends… _well, not girls_… Suddenly, Black raised his head from the drawing he was doing and looked directly into Remus' eyes, making him realised he had been staring. He blushed and looked back to the book as fast as he could. Next time he raised his head, the dark-haired boy was quietly sleeping. _He looks cute_, Remus though smiling. The thought worried him so much, that he decided that it was a good idea to wake him up. He pushed the book in his desk to the edge so it fell down as well as his quill and the ink making a horrible noise. Black jumped in his sit.

"I'm sorry. It fell down." He stood up to clean the mess he had just created.

"Don't worry." The boy answered in a sleepy voice and looked at the clock. "Still one hour to go? Really?" he stood up, looked at the corridor to make sure nobody was around and he closed the door and started moving things around the classroom.

* * *

Wednesday. Third period, Ancient Runes. Not a soul had insulted Remus that day. It was getting fishy. Fishy and worrying. While he was eyeing around him suspicious of everyone the professor approached him. He told him about helping Black during the time of their detention since the other boy did not appear to be doing very well on the subject.

Remus could not stop thinking about it all day. Have the professor talk to Black about this as well? If yes, what did he think about it? Have he told his friends? He just wanted the month to be over already. It was insufferable. It was him who arrived a little bit late that day, only to find Black on the desk that he normally used, so he went to sit in the other end of the classroom.

"Hey… emm.. Remus." He startled, nobody ever used his name. It even sounded bad. "Come here. I did not sit here for you to go over there. I'm not trying to annoy you, really. Did the Runes Professor talk to you?"

"Yes… but if you don't feel like doing anything I am ok with that. If you fail you can even say I did not help you properly. I don't care."

"No. I do want to… Actually, it was me who asked for it. I was thinking that since we are stuck here anyway I could use the time."

"Oh."

"Also, we would talk to each other this way."

"And why would you want to talk to me for?"

"Can't I be curious?"

"Nobody has ever been."

"Well, I'm different." He played an overconfident smile on his face that Remus found very irritating.

"Hm.." Remus walked doubtfully in the boy's direction. "Do you mind if I sit by the window?"

"Not at all" he moved to the desk next to the one where he had been sitting, letting Remus take his place.

Maybe Black was not so much of a bad guy after all. Remus took his books out of the bag and waited for the other one to say something.

"So… are you going to help me?"

"Of course."

"Good."

"What do you want?" Remus asked.

"Excuse me?"

"What do you want to start with?"

"Oh… the beginning would be perfect."

Remus took his book and his notes out of the bag assuming Black would not have any, and told him to start by copying his notes while he explained the main points. From time to time, Black made some really weird comments about the weather, or about other people in their class, joking about God knows what. Remus could not tell if he was making fun of him or just talking to himself because he was bored.

"Look, if you want to we can leave it for today. We have been studying for an hour already."

"I know, but there are still two hours left."

"Sleep."

"I'm not tired."

"Oh."

- Awkward silence -

"So… how are you doing?" Black said.

"Me?"

"No, sorry, I was talking to your notes."

- Awkward silence –

"Difficult, aren't you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Nevermind."

- Awkward silence –

"Why are you like this?"

"And how would you say I am Black?"

"You can call me Sirius… And.. I don't know, like.. like you are."

"Because I rather be myself than just adapt to what others think I should be like. Sirius. "

"I don't think you are being yourself."

- Silence –

Remus opened his book again and started doing silly drawings on the corners. Black could just bugger off and go back to his usual sitting place. The closeness was making him feel extremely uncomfortable. Suddenly, he felt something hitting his nose.

He looked up and saw Black with a rolled piece of parchment in his hand. He smiled.

"What are you doing?"

"Hitting your nose with a piece of parchment."

"And what would that be for?"

"Because I am bored."

"…" Remus stared at him. The other still smiling.

"Why are you so serious? And funny I should say this!" Black made some exagerated gestures with his hands.

"Serious?"

"What?"

"No. I was not calling your…" Sirius started laughing.

"I know. Well, you see, for starters, you never laugh."

"I don't think I have reasons to do so."

"Oh come on," he took a look at the clock "I have been trying to give you reasons for like the past hour and a half."

- Awkward silence –

"Ok. I'll be quite. You only have to say it if I am bothering you."

"You are not. You are just a little bit irritating, but I do not dislike you."

"What a relief…"

"If I did not like you I would have already kill you by now," Remus turned his head to look at the other boy in the eyes. _Beautiful grey eyes by the way._ "Yes, I would have probably made you bleed to death." And he smiled.

- Very awkward silence –

"That was a joke." Remus felt the need to clarify.

"Really?"

"Of course! Do I look like a psychopath?"

"Do you want me to answer that?"

"No, I guess not." he looked down to his book again.

"Ok."

- Silence –

"Why do your friends hate me so much?" Remus asked suddenly, without really thinking.

"Why are you so weird?"

"I am not weird."

"They don't hate you."

"Ok."

"Liar."

"Liar." Remus laughed.

"You laughed!"

"So?"

"That it took me" he look at the clock again "only 2 hours 38 minutes and 22 seconds to make you laugh."

"Oh come on!"

They smiled at each other.

- Silence –

After a little while, a professor showed at the door and told them that they were free to leave.

"Yay" Remus muttered sardonically.

"See you tomorrow." Smiled Sirius standing up after having picked up his notes.

- Silence –

"Hey, I've said see you tomorrow!"

"Hmm?... See you."

While going back to the common room Remus came across the boy again sitting in the sofa next to Potter, laughing. He wondered if Sirius had told the other anything about their conversations. They were brotherly hitting each other and seem to be plotting something. Remus felt horribly jealous.


	2. Discovering

The hours of the detention had gone quite smoothly the previous day. Lupin had been helping him with the stupid Ancient Runes subject, _what they hell did I ever sing up for that in the first place_, and they were having a sort of conversation from time to time.

Sirius was sitting in the dormitory floor next to James who was talking too much. Maybe Lupin's company was making him lose perspective of how much was normal for a person to talk.

"...Sirius, are you even listening to me?"

"Sorta... sorry, what were you saying?"

"Look, this isn't going to work if you do not pay attention. Listen, the plan is to make the spells work once Remus enters the classroom. So you have to make sure to work out the triggers before he goes to the detention tomorrow. Do it today while you are leaving."

"I always leave before he does."

"Well, don't."

"Whatever... tell me again how are we going to avoid being blamed for this one."

"Oh, come... everyone hates the kid. And everybody will laugh at him when they see him all covered in blue jelly. Fabian will cast the sticky charm on him while he is on his way. It is bloody brilliant!" he got up excited.

"Excuse me if I fail to see the brilliancy of your plan."

"Hey Black, you are being weird. Are you having any girl issues... sorry boy. Boy issues."

"No James. I am not." he looked at the other boy who seemed more than relief about not having to talk about boys.

"Well... then this bloody detention is really taking its toll on you. Come on, you have to leave. And remember the spells for tomorrow!"

"Ok, ok."

Sirius did not know if he was feeling bad about doing this or not. It was easy to make pranks on Remus, but maybe that was the reason why it was wrong. But he was so weird about everything... the boy needed to talk to people more, to learn to laugh more... Pranks were always good way to have a laugh. But Lupin was definitely not the type who was able to laugh at himself. _He should learn though_.

While trying to convince himself that what he was going to do was not as morally wrong as it looked, he entered the class to find Remus already sitting in his usual spot, reading a book.

"Hi there." he said joyfully.

"Hello." Lupin answer without even bothering to look up his book.

Sirius went sit next to him. When the other boy did not react he started picking over his shoulder to see what he was reading. Lupin, realised and put the book down.

"Do you want to continue with Runes today?"

"No... not really. I'm tired." Sirius picked up the book and started reading out loud on the first page "_It is a truth universally acknowledge, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife_..." he snorted, "What the hell is this Remus?"

"A book" he said taking the book away from him and placing it in what he considered a safe place at the other end of the table.

"So you are into soppy romance novels?"

"It is not... whatever. You don't even care. I am sorry that my taste in literature is not of your liking."

"Yeah... whatever."

- Prolonged Silence -

"This weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend." Sirius announced.

"Yeah..." answered the other boy nonchalantly, having gone back to his boring reading.

"Don't you ever go to Hogsmeade?"

"I don't have anyone to go with." he answered putting the book down reluctantly, "the only boy in this school that I talk to is my roommate and he is even more awkward than I am."

"That's impossible!"

Remus stood in silence.

"Sorry" Sirius added, seeing the hurt look on the other boys' eyes. _Beautiful hazel eyes, by the way._ "Who is your roommate?"

"Peter Pettigrew." Sirius looked at him clueless. "Of course you don't know him" Remus sighed "He is the one who always makes cauldrons explode in potions."

"Oh! That one..." Sirius laughed. "Oh man, he is legendary."

"No, he is not."

"We are always waiting for him to explode something so we can make some prank without teachers noticing."

"Sweet."

They did not talk more during at least one hour. Sirius was bored as always and entertained himself walking around the room and looking out of the window. When he realised that the leaving time was approaching Sirius realised that he needed to start a conversation and somehow make the other boy leave earlier than him.

"You could come to Hogsmeade with us." he said before he could stop himself and think about something better. _Fuck, what if he says yes._

"I don't think so." _Well, o__f course he is not going to say yes!_

"And why is that? You could start socialising with people, they would like you if they knew you." he was not so sure about that.

"I just do not want people to know me, ok?" Remus snapped.

Sirius motioned towards Remus' desk and rested his arms on it, bending over. He saw the other boy flinch and blush a little. _Could he possibly...? _What if this kid was gay? That would be a reason for not wanting people to know, for wanting to hide yourself, he was well aware of that. Maybe Prewett was right and Lupin just wanted to shag him. Sirius smiled. Ego busts always made him smile.

"And why would that be?" he said, moving uncomfortably close to the other boy's face.

"Because." sadly, Remus had too fast recovered his usual impassiveness.

Sirius stoop up again and started putting things in his bag, waiting for the other boy to mirror him. It took almost five minutes, though it seemed like an hour.

"So where are you heading now?" Sirius asked, sitting in the desk and resting his head on his hand.

"To the dorm? Where elese could I be heading to?"

"I don't know. The library?"

"Fair point." he shrugged.

They both started walking towards the door very slowly, both waiting for the other to walk through the door first. Sirius rested his back on the door so Remus felt obliged to go out first. And all of a sudden, Sirius planted a sonorous kiss on the other's check.

"See you tomorrow." he smiled, loving the confused and startled look on Remus' eyes.

"Yeah... see you." and with that, he left down the corridor, leaving Sirius to his plotting.

It was not just going to be a prank for the sake of it. It was an initiation, he was going to make a real person out of the mopping soul that was Remus Lupin. Only he was the only one who knew that.

* * *

The next day Sirius spotted Lupin during breakfast and realised that he was not looking very well. Determined to continue with the plan of introducing the boy to normal social relationships, he walked towards him.

"Hey, how are you?"

"Fuck off." is the only response that comes out of Remus' mouth, in a very torn voice.

"Excuse me?"

"Look, he is not in a very good mood today. So it is just better if you do not talk to him." the chubby boy who was sitting next to Remus looked up at him.

"I did not ask for your opinion." and with that Sirius left, realising why the world did not like those two at all.

The prank needed to go on and it was not anymore to help Lupin. It was to freaking annoy him. The fact that he was in a bad mood that they would only help the effects. Sirius spends the rest of the day thinking about the plans for the evening and how Lupin was going to react to it.

When the time finally arrived he was waiting at the door, at a safe distance for Lupin and his friends to arrive. He saw him at the end of the corridor, looking annoyed and walking at a fast pace. James and the Prewett brothers were following him laughing quietly.

"Oh, hello Remus!" Sirius said when the boy passed him by.

Remus was grunting a sort of response when blue jelly fell from nowhere on top of him. The boy drop the books to the floor and tried to take it off unsuccessfully due to the sticking charm that someone would have placed on him earlier. He turned his back slowly to face Sirius grin and his friends laugher.

Without saying a word, Lupin took out his wand casting a hex that made Sirius hit the wall and fall back to the floor.

"Holly fuck!" Potter shouted running next to his friend while the Prewetts pointed their wands at Remus. "Hey, mate are you ok?" James asked Sirius.

"Yes! Yes I am." Sirius was angry. Incredibly angry. He stood up and started walking in Lupin's direction, but before he could even take his wand out, McGonagall appeared in the corridor and started shouting at them.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"Professor, looked what Lupin has done to Sirius!" James was screaming and pointing at his head. He touch the spot that his friend was referring to and when he looked at his hand, it had some blood on it.

"They did this to me first!" Lupin defended himself, showing his covered-in-blue robes and hair to their Head of House.

"Silence! I can't believe this. Both of you go to the infirmary to fix whatever needs to be fix. And I will see you both tomorrow at 10 in the morning. No Hogsmeade visit."

Lupin almost jumped at hearing that.

"Professor I… I can't do that tomorrow. You know I have to go visit my mother…"

"Oh, right." the expression on McGonagall's face changed drastically. "I am very sorry Mr. Lupin. We'll figure out your part of the detention later. Mr. Black, I expect to see you tomorrow in my office at 10."

Once they were out of the infirmary, Sirius with a bandage in his head and Remus still having patches of blue on his hair, they went back to the detention room.

Sirius sat on the window and entertained himself by looking at the people walking near the lake. The sky was clear and it was very nice weather, he should have been outside lying on the grass or riding his broom. He looked up for a moment to check on Lupin. He was definitely not looking any good, far worse than he seemed that morning at breakfast. He was extremely pale, and trembling.

"Lupin, are you ok? Do you want to go to the infirmary?"

"Lupin you say? I thought we were past formalities." Remus laughed. Though it sounded more like coughing.

"No. I mean, man, you look like shitte."

"Charming."

"Ok. Then just die there if you want to!" the boy was starting to really annoy him.

- Silence -

"Why is that you cannot do detention tomorrow?" he was awfully curious about the reasons for him having to rot alone in detention in a Hogsmeade weekend. "You did not tell me you were busy when I ask you about Hogsmeade."

"I have to visit my mother. She is sick."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"No, you are not."

"Ok. Whatever. I'm done talking to you." he went back to the place at the other side of the classroom when he sat the first day of the detention. And put his head down to take a nap. Only that he could not sleep because he was too busy thinking about all the things that Lupin was hiding. Why was he not going to the infirmary when he was obviously sick? What was wrong with his mother? Why was he so keen on shutting the world out?

* * *

That night when he was sitting as usual in the common room with his friends, having a game of exploding snap with James, he saw Lupin walking out of the portrait without giving anyone a second look. He felt the urge to go after him and see what he was doing, why would he leave in the night if he was going to visit his mother? It was really late. He controlled himself so the others would not ask him where was he going. He controlled himself until he couldn't anymore.

"Sorry, I have to go somewhere. I am borrowing the you-know-what." he said to James while running up the stairs to take James' invisibility cloak.

"Wait! What? Why?... Oh, bugger." came James' screams from down the stairs.

Sirius was running as fast as he could around the corridors until he spotted Lupin. He was waiting in front of the infirmary for someone. Not very long after, he could see Pomfrey dressed in robes putting and arm around Remus' shoulders and directing him towards the entrance of the castle. Sirius followed carefully. Where could they be going?

Lupin and Madame Pomfrey crossed half of the Hogwarts grounds until they arrived near a big tree. The Whomping Willow to be more specific. Sirius could see how she made the tree stop moving with a wave of her wand. The fact that this could be done was a very important discovery for Sirius and he waited until they both disappeared through the tree. When he wanted to come near to continue following them, the tree started moving again.

He could not understand a thing about what they were doing. Was that a secret passage? If it was, he definitely needed to tell James about it for their little project.

Sirius sat down on the grass trying to make sense of what was going on. It was a very clear night and he enjoyed watching the stars. He stayed there for at least an hour and did not see Madame Pomfrey coming out the Willow.

And suddenly, it washed over him. It all made sense. Why Lupin hide himself from the rest of the world, the sickness, the bad humour, why he was not able to attend detention the next day...

The beautiful full moon was shinning upon Sirius' face.

* * *

_- Next day, at the infirmary -_

"Good afternoon" Sirius said seeing Remus lying in one of the beds far away form the entrance.

Remus shrinked "Shouldn't you been in detention?"

"It's over."

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"I... I had a... well, you see how I wasn't feeling good yesterday and..."

"You really are, aren't you?" Sirius said, with a hint of fascination in his voice, taking a chair and sitting next to Remus' bed.

"Excuse me?"

"Lupin, you are a bloody werewolf!"


	3. Getting to know you

Remus had never been this nervous in his entire live. As he heard the words of accusation a cold shiver run through his entire body. He concentrated on making his voice sound normal. _Come on, Remus, you can do this. _

"I am a what?"

"I was following you yesterday night... and I saw you enter a secret passage, and it was a full moon and we have been studying magical creatures in DADA. So I thought, that must be it. You are a werewolf."

Remus sighed. Luckily, he boy had no idea what he was talking about.

"You are nuts Black. You've been reading too much for the subject..." he tried to analysed the other boy's reaction. He seemed calmed enough. "Why the hell you were following anyway?"

"I told you I was curious. So, are you or not?"

"Of course I am not!" Remus felt pain in his throat as the words came out, but he hoped the other boy wouldn't notice.

"Oh... pity."

"What?!" he almost jumped out of the bed at that. He felt like killing the bastard. First, he plays a ridiculous prank on him - ok, Remus can deal with that. But now, he is telling that it is a pity that _he is not_ a werewolf?

"I don't know, I thought that it must be cool to be a creature of the night or something..."

"Get out Black. Leave me alone."

"Oh, now we are all defensive again, huh?"

"Of course I am! How do you expect me to act? You follow me, you play stupid pranks on me... your friends... you! I mean... it is not easy to deal with this every day, you know? I am tired. I am tired of you all. So just leave me a little bit of peace while I am convalescent."

"I am sorry... I..." Remus felt the other boy moving nearer the bed and he panicked. "I just wanted to help." he sat on a chair that was placed next to the bed.

"...by joining your friends in insulting me and hexing me."

"No! In like... opening up. I know what it is like to have a secret that you... that the world might not accept."

"Oh..." he softened for a couple of seconds but then, he reminded himself that everything was a lot easier if you were Sirius fucking-perfect Black, he couldn't really understand him... "Well, honestly, I did not ask you for help."

"At least you are talking more than you used to." he smiled.

Why did he have to be so stupidly charming?_ Put yourself together Lupin!_

- Silence -

"Ok. Now you are not talking anymore." Black pointed out.

"I don't have anything to say."

"I'll be going then. Sorry for bothering you." he got up and lowered his eyes, as he turned around Remus registered the disappointment in the other boy's words and he could not help but stop him.

"Wait... I... well, thank you for trying to help anyway."

Black turned around with a horrible self-sufficient smirk in his face.

"You are welcome."

"Oh, fuck off." he left his head drop in the pillow and turned around so as not to face Black. The other boy left the infirmary still smirking and Remus could not help but smile a little to himself.

* * *

Sunday was sort of a normal day. He had left the infirmary that morning and had automatically gone to grab a book a the library and then, back to his bedroom.

He shared his room with another guy called Peter Pettigrew. The boy was not very popular either so they got along pretty well. They spent time together, mostly criticising the people who annoyed them (that being most of Hogwarts, nd of course, the Quidditch teams in particular.) But when he entered the room that day, it was empty. To be honest, Remus was grateful that the boy had decided to disappear from the room during a extended period of time, so he was able to properly rest and enjoy some reading time.

Remus have dozen off when the door of the room slammed close.

"Easy Pete!" he said, slowly moving to a proper sitting position.

"You are never going to guess who I have been talking to."

"Probably not... just get it over with, who was it?"

"Potter. James freaking Potter!"

"And why is that? Was he picking on you for something?"

"No, and that is what is weird. He was been rather civilised, he apparently wanted to know why is that Black is defending you now."

"And why does he think you would know that? I don't even know myself!"

"Well... I... Never mind. It was just stupid Potter with his stupidities." Peter moved from his position near the door to his side of the room, and started pretending to tidy up his truck by moving some things around.

"What did he tell you?"

"He had this idea that you are seducing Black so you can be popular... or something like that."

"And why in the name of Merlin would I want to be popular?!"

"I thought you were going to be more upset about the seducing Black part of this..."

"I don't care about that."

"You are not really trying...?"

"Pete!"

"Ok, ok. Sorry."

They did not talk more about the issue and just spent the afternoon playing chess and catching up with some homework.

Even though Remus had gone to bed early, it was already 4 a.m. and he was not able to fall asleep. He decided to get out of his bed and sit in the common room. It was rarely occupied by anyone at night and it was not the first time that Remus did some nocturnal excursion to sit near the fire place.

He had taken some of his mother's old records with him to listen to the in the gramophone that rested on the table under the huge window that the Gryffindor common room had. After putting it to work, he sat down on the sofa and Cohen's voice filled the room.

Two songs later, he got up and started walking around, stretching his muscles that were still sore from his last transformation. An ancient runes book was placed on one of the shelfs and it reminded him of Sirius. He couldn't help but wonder what was the boy's motivation for helping him. It was interesting that Potter did not know anything, as he thought it was Remus himself who was trying to build up the "friendship". Maybe Black wanted to earn his trust just to stab him in the back... All those years being a werewolf, almost an outcast, had definitely taken its toll on Remus' confidence. To him, there was not the slightest possibility that Black was doing everything without second intentions. Well, if he was trying to betray him, he had to play it cool. Pretend to be as fool as possible so he could just be done with it. But he did not really know how to play it cool. _Maybe I could flirt with him. _He laughed at the irony.

He sat back again on the sofa and concentrated on the music... "You were born under a bad sing with a blue moon in your eyes..."

* * *

_Monday_

What a burden! thought Remus while walking towards the detention room with Sirius in front of him. He considered walking a little bit faster to catch up with the boy or continue walking at his pace. He did not really had time to decided as Sirius turned around, apparently sensing him behind his back.

"Hi there, professor." he smiled. That was a new nickname.

"Hello..."

"It is starting to be a real pain... coming here every day, right? It would be so good to just be out near the lake... or maybe sneaking into Hogsmeade!"

"To be honest, I have nothing better to do." he admitted while they both entered the classroom and sat in their usual area.

"Oh, I knew I was important for you, but that's flattering." he said laughing.

"Huh?" _What is he talking about?!_

"That was a joke. Why don't you ever understand jokes?"

"You did not understand my joke when I told you I would kill you..."

"Touchè."

- Silence -

"Do you want to review the last unit for runes a little bit?" Remus asked.

"Oh yes. But, we study now and then, we will go have some fun, because honestly, it is probably not healthy to not have anything better to do than being in detention."

"And what do you want to do?" said Remus nonchalantly.

"When we get out of here we'll go drink something."

"I am not sneaking into Hogsmeade. And I do not drink."

"Ok. Then, we'll go into the kitchens and have some juice or something."

"... sounds good."

"You really are no fun."

"No wonder why I don't have friends, huh?"

"I didn't mean it like that... I..."

"Whatever. Let's get down to work."

And with that, two hours later, Remus found himself sitting in a chair in front of a bunch of house-elves that were way too eager to present Remus with any food or drink that he wanted.

"I.. Can I have some hot chocolate please?" Remus asked.

"Of course Sir." answered one of the creatures, who had a particularly high-pitched voice.

"So, what are you hiding then?" asked Sirius happily taking a glass of pumpink juice.

"I am not hiding anything."

"Oh, of course you are. You do not show your true self, and that is hiding."

"Thank you for the psychological therapy..."

"The what?"

"Nothing."

- Silence -

"I don't think that we are here just because I do not want to sneak into Hogsmeade."

"And what's that supposed to mean Lupin?"

"Are you ashamed of other people seeing you with me?"

"Of course I am not. What makes you think that?"

"Your friend... Potter, he asked my roommate about our relationship. According to him I have some hidden motivation for trying to make friends with you. Like trying to be popular or something along those lines."

"Pst, don't listen to Potter. He just gets pissed when he losses a bit of attention."

"That sounds familiar somehow." Remus smiled as he had another taste of the delicious chocolate.

When they were walking back to their common room he had no idea how much time he had spent in the kitchens with Black or how much hot chocolate he have had. But he was feeling as warm and comfortable as he had ever felt at Hogwarts before.

"Thank you, that was nice." Remus declared while they were going up the stairs, heading towards the dormitories. "I did not know that house-elves provided you with free chocolate."

"Interesting discovery, isn't it?" Sirius smiled.

"Interesting? That's an understatement!"

They stopped in the middle of the corridor to part their separate ways towards their bedrooms.

"So... I have another theory about your secret." Sirius said suddenly.

"Really?" Remus smiled, "And what would that be?"

Sirius rested one of his arms on the wall, moving to an uncomfortably close position and smiled. Remus did not have a bad reaction, as the good mood that chocolate caused on him was still present, and he was feeling rather cheerful.

And then, Sirius lips were against his. Caressing his mouth, slowly, sweetly... And too soon, they were not there anymore. Remus opened his eyes, scandalised, only to see the well-known Black smirk as the boy turned around to entered his bedroom.

Remus stood stupidly in the corridor, half amused half angry for another ten minutes.

* * *

_The next day_

Remus spotted Black in the Gryffindor table during breakfast but avoided looking at him. Of course, he could not talk to him in front of all Hogwarts, but they definitely needed to clear some things out.

Remus waited for Sirius to finish his breakfast and his chat with Potter to follow him out of the Great Hall.

"Black" he called, not too loud. Both Sirius and Potter turned around.

"Get going James, I'll be there in a minute."

"Really?" the boy with the glasses questioned. He seemed surprised and confused, but made no further comments.

"Good morning Remus, how are you filling in this fine day?" he said smiling.

"I wanted to talk to you yesterday, and you left without even saying goodbye." Remus said crossing his arms in a defensive position.

"Oh, and why is that you wanted to say to me?" smiled the other boy.

"What would you do that for?!"

"I was trying to prove a point."

"Well, that was some weird form of argumentation."

"I just wanted to show you." he smiled "You know, it is ok to be homosexual, or bi, or whatever. I mean... I'll admit it is a bit harsh at the beginning, but the people who you care about would accept it. You don't have to shut the world out just because of that."

"It is not just that...! You cannot go and assault me just because you think I have a thing for boys." Remus said with a lot of gesticulation.

"You are just annoyed because I finally figured out your big secret."

"Look. It is not as easy as you think. There is a difference between being gay and handsome and popular like you are. And being me... and looking like me." _And being a werewolf for that matter._

"Do you think I am handsome?" and there was THAT stupid smirk.

"No. I am not sharing this with you. Please. Just, no." he leaned against the wall. "Don't tell Potter and the others, please."

"So it is true."

"Of course it is. Now, shut it." he moved forward to look back into his eyes again and point a threatening finger in Sirius' direction. "And the fact that I am does not mean I want you to kiss me. So don't do it again. Ok?"

"If that is what you want..." shrugged Sirius.

And they both headed towards the Charms classroom next to each other.


	4. Welcoming

A couple of days have passed since the conversation with Lupin about the boy's preferences had taken place. The relationship between them had improved considerably. Remus was more open and more comfortable about being himself.

It was already Thursday afternoon and they were walking together towards the Quidditch pitch after detention. Sirius had practice and he had insisted on Remus accompanying him.

"I am still saying this is not a good idea." Remus pointed out for what must have been the millionth time.

"Calm down. Really, it's all right."

"You say so because they are your friends. I am the one you guys bully in case you don't remember."

"I do not anymore Remus!"

"Of course you don't."

"Come on." Sirius put an arm around the other boy's shoulders, who instantly tensed up "Relax. I've told you, I'll talk to them."

"You really do not have to go through all this trouble for me." Remus said stopping abruptly "We could meet later... go to the kitchens or something."

"Oh, now we are speaking clearly. You just want to have that delicious hot chocolate the house-elves made for you!" laughed Sirius elbowing Remus, who joined his laugh shyly.

"Well, I have to say that hot chocolate sounds appealing."

"Or you might just want to spend some time alone with me..."

"Yeah. You got me." Remus said rolling eyes. "But I know what you are doing too: Meet me alone so nobody sees you with me and you can pretend not to be having a sordid affair with the nerd your friends hate."

Sirius stared at Remus for a moment too long before realising it was a joke. _This guy makes really weird jokes. Honestly._

"If that is your idea of a romance... then, we'll do it your way. We'll meet alone by the moonlight. Tonight."

"By the moonlight?" Remus said, confused, while they started walking again.

"Yes, sounds romantic and all, and given you are not a werewolf..."

Remus sighed "It's not a full moon, it wouldn't matter anyway."

Weirdly enough, Sirius was not able to pinpoint the joke in Remus' last sentence. After that, they said their goodbyes and ended up parting different ways. Sirius continued his way arriving to the grounds at the same time that some of his friends did.

"Where were you Black?" asked Fabian.

"Detention. Sounds familiar Prewett?"

"Ta, right. Sorry mate." said the boy giving him a manly pat on the shoulder "So, how's dealing with the weirdo going?"

"Are you referring to Re... Lupin?" Sirius asked.

"Of course I am."

"Well... it's ok."

"How can it be ok? He is a nerd with no friends who hates us because we are flawless." intervened the other brother.

"Gideon, I am sorry to break this to you but I really do not think you are flawless." laughed Potter appearing behind Sirius' back. "How's it going?"

"I'm fine." answered Sirius without much emotion, knowing the question was directed to him.

"Yeah, right. Because you definitely are with that messy hair of yours!" shouted Gideon on top of Sirius' words.

Without any more conversation they took their brooms and spend the next two hours practicing the strategies they had been preparing for Saturday's match against Ravenclaw.

The practice went quite well. It was already darkening when the finally decided that they should go back to the castle and have some dinner. The mood of the team was pretty good and they were all congratulating each other and quite confident about their possibilities for Saturday's match.

Sirius was left behind as he paused to look at the sky, that was turning all sorts of orange and pink. Quite a beautiful sight.

"Black! I am waiting for you prat!"

"A little bit of patience would do you good Potter." said Sirius in a very low voice as he passed next to his friend who followed him into the changing rooms making a weird face.

Once in the shower Sirius allowed himself a little bit of time to think about what was going on in his life. He really liked Remus. _Well, not like as in having a thing for him. But, you know, he is nice and all_. On the other hand, there were his friends, his mates, who would never accept Lupin as he was. With all his books and his cynicism, which Sirius liked, because he was weird that way. He would have been quite sure for a moment, as he was telling Remus, that they would let Lupin stay with them if Sirius spoke in his favour, but apparently, it was not so.

He went out of the shower and, after wrapping a towel around his waist, sat in a bench next to his clothes.

"You seem very quite." said James as he pushed his friend a little to search for something inside his own bag.

"I was enjoying my shower."

"Your 'I'm fine' from a while ago did not sound very convincing." he said while walking towards the mirror, attempting to comb his hair in a certain way, so it wouldn't look combed.

"The thing is that... I was trying to convince Lupin to come see us practice before..."

"And why would you do that?" interrupted James, looking away from his reflection to meet his friend's eyes.

"There!" shouted Sirius pointing at his friends disbelieving gesture "That's the thing. I was telling that it would be ok if I talked to you guys, but it seems I was wrong."

"I am not following you..."

"Is it that hard to believe that he is a nice guy and that he does not deserve the way you guys treat him?"

"Nice? Lupin nice?"

"Okay. Maybe nice is not the right word... but, you know..."

"No. Honestly, I do have no idea what you are referring to."

"Not all people have to be handsome Quidditch players to deserve respect." he declared, looking annoyed and solemn.

"Oh my God. Please. Tell me you are not shagging him."

"What? No, I am not. Why do you always assume that with every boy you see me talking to?" said Sirius standing up next to his friend.

"Because you are you. Also, I am often right." James pointed out.

"Well, you see me talking to you now and I don't crawl up your bed at night!"

"You better not Black."

"Oi! Who's my homophobic best friend?Who's him?" said Sirius in a stupid voice while petting and hugging James.

"Stop molesting me!" shouted James pushing the other boy away as they laughed together.

Remus was seated on an armchair when Sirius and James entered the common room after having picked up something at the kitchens, as they had been too late for dinner. The golden-haired boy was lying in a weird position reading a book that looked around three hundred pages too long for Sirius' taste. He was still laughing at something stupid James had just said when Lupin's eyes met his. Sirius considered saying something for a second, but, too soon, Remus was looking back at the pages of his book. He figured that he might have been waiting for him since the sun was already gone.

Sirius looked at James to check if he had noticed the other boy in the common room. Apparently, he hadn't as he began to talk about the Quidditch match again. He doubted for a second. Should he go say hello to Remus or follow his friend up the stairs? He opted for the second option ignoring a voice in his head telling him that the boy reading on that armchair was also supposed to be his friend.

* * *

Sirius had been very nervous the entire day. He had seen Lupin angry before and he did not feel at all like confronting him. Sadly, he did not have any other option because they were still trapped in detention together. At least it was Friday, and in case things went really bad, they would have the weekend to cool off.

As he was walking towards the detention room, he replayed what he wanted to tell Remus in his head for the twentieth time. He opened the door slowly, and as he had expected, Remus was already there, reading, looking relaxed.

"Ei! Remus. I am really sorry about yesterday. I..." Sirius started talking even before coming close to the other boy, but Remus interrupted him.

"You see, this is why I don't have friends. People are just too much of a burden. You don't need to apologise. Come enjoy this beautiful afternoon silence with me." he said, pointing towards the chair next to him.

"What? Come on. I went back to the common room five minutes later and you were already gone."

"Well, I didn't know you were going to come back." Sirius opened his mouth to speak again but Remus stopped him with a movement of his hand. "Look, I am not mad at you or anything."

"Aren't you?" this conversations was not going like he had planned in his head.

"No."

"Why not?"

"You told me that we would meet alone and you were not alone, so that was only fair. I did not think you were going to come back because I just assumed that it was not a good moment for you. Do you think that I should be angry?"

"Yes. That would be the normal thing!" he made a pause in his speech, and looked at Remus' impassive face. "It is also true that you are not normal of course... The thing is, I told you that I would meet you and I should have, that's what friends do."

"Maybe I need some new friends."

There was again one of their very familiar awkward silences that Remus broke by laughing at his own joke, Sirius joined him.

"Ok. I'll give you another opportunity to try be what you consider a proper friend. We can meet tonight."

"Nice. I'll meet you at the common room at twelve... you know, to be sure there's nobody around and all."

"Ok. But see? I was right. Your friends do not like me and you won't really let them see you with me."

"Oh.. yeah, about that... I actually tried." he said, finally dropping on the chair next to Remus "I talked to James about you."

"Please, by all means, enlighten me with his wise opinion on the topic."

"He thinks we are shagging." he turned his face to Remus, who was frowning "Apparently, that is the only reason why I would want to say that you are a nice person."

"I assume you told him he is mistaken."

"Of course I did."

"What did you tell him?"

"That I do not have it off with every guy I speak to!"

"So you did tell him? About my... me, about me." now Remus was starting to look quite angry. He put the book he was reading slowly down on the table.

"What are you going on about? I did not tell him anything about you. I do not think he is willing to have a conversation about you, really."

"But of course, it did not occur to you to tell him that... this..." he said, moving his hand between them both "would not be possible because I do not like guys."

"I didn't think... it's not like he cares, you know? He is my friend after all."

"He doesn't care about you because you are his friend!"

"Oh come on! He didn't even made a comment about your sexuality."

"But... Whatever."

"Honestly, he did not.."

"I said whatever. Drop it, ok?"

They spent most of the afternoon in a calm quite that annoyed Sirius more than he could ever explain. If they were actually meeting up that night it was going to be pretty awkward. He hoped that Remus' anger would not last long. It was almost funny how the situation had ended up in the same point that Sirius has predicted (that is, with Remus not speaking to him) for very different reasons from the ones he would have thought.

The next thing he knew is that someone was shaking his shoulders.

"Hey, it's time." someone said.

"Huh? What's...?" he looked around confused "Oh" he added as realisation finally came over him. "Have I been sleeping all the time?"

"Yes, you have." Remus answered rolling his eyes. "You could have actually used this time for writing your DADA essay, which is due on Tuesday by the way."

"Wow... calm yo' tits. It's Friday man. And I rock at DADA. I am totally writing that essay Monday afternoon."

"Okay. Whatever you say." Remus got up and headed to the door.

"Err... Am I meeting you tonight?"

"Yes. We agreed on that, right?"

"Right." Sirius answered, still sleepy, putting his head back on the desk.

* * *

They were finally sitting on the kitchens eating some wonderful pumpkin pie that the house-elves had kindly offered them. The atmosphere had been a bit tense at the beginning, but it always was like that with Lupin, wasn't it? So Sirius decided that everything was good, and he told himself that he was not doing anything weird by meeting another boy at night to eat pie together. There was absolutely nothing weird about it.

"Are you planning on going to see the match on tomorrow?"

"Why would I?"

"Because I am playing. And you are a Gryffindor and all."

"You can't honestly think that I want you to win just because I am in the same house."

"Don't you?" Sirius looked up to encounter an amused looking Remus.

"You've got to be kidding me." he finally said.

Sirius was not sure about what to say. Of corse, he had always assumed that every single Gryffindor on the face of the Earth would always want their Quidditch team to win the cup. But then again, Lupin was a weird character. And there was also the fact the team me,bers did not treat him particularly well.

"But are you coming or not?"

"I wasn't really planning to, but if it does make a difference to you..."

"Yes, it does."

"Ok. Then I'll go."

"You don't look very enthusiastic about it."

"I am not."

"You are an amazingly honest person."

Remus stared at him for too long. Eyes fixed on his, a little bit more open than what would have been normal.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"I am not an honest person Black."

"Yes you are. You say things clearly and directly, without any... you know, respect for social convention and the like."

"I keep secrets. You know that."

"Well, that is understandable. I know it is not something to brag about. Unless you are me, of course." he said, smiling and straightening his position.

"I might have more secrets than that."

"Do you now?" he moved closer to Remus.

"And as it would have seemed obvious for any person on earth except for you, if I did have, I would not be telling you."

"You know I'll find out sooner or later."

Remus laughed. "I hope not."

* * *

When Sirius arrived at the Quidditch pitch on Saturday, the first thing he did was search for Remus on the crowd. It did not take long for him to find the other boy, as Gideon was kind enough to show to him where he was standing.

"Look who's here." Sirius looked in the direction the keeper was pointing to, and he saw Remus, who, to his surprise, was speaking to someone. "Look's like he's got a pal. We have to find out who that is."

"That's Frederick Wearlen, sixth year Ravenclaw. He is a nice pal." said Mckinnon.

"And why would you Marlene be so knowledgeable about the guy?" said Gideon elbowing her.

"You guys are insufferable." she said walking in the other direction without giving any further information about the Ravenclaw boy.

The match went as good as they had expected. It lasted less than an hour with Gryffindor winning with a 170 points advantage and with an amazing catch of the Snitch by their wondrous seeker, James Potter.

While Sirius was greeting and hugging all of the members of his team he realised that Remus had entered the pitch and was standing at a save distance. The boy he was with was patting one of the Ravenclaw team members on the back. After doing that, he moved again in Remus' direction and they both started to walk away.

"Oi! Remus!" he called and the other boy turned around. Sirius walked several meters away from his teammates.

"Oh, hi!" he turned back again to say something to the other boy, who kept walking. "Are you sure you wanna speak to me in an open space?" he smiled, turning toward Sirius' direction again.

"Oh shut it. Did you like the match?"

"Err... it was... interesting?"

"You are not into sports, huh?"

"No. I really am not.

"So, who was this guy I see you with?" Sirius asked, pointing towards the general direction in which he had seen the other boy walking away.

"Erick. We... well, I have just met him today." Remus said casually "I guess I am taking my own advice about making some new friends."

"Oh, well. That is probably because of my good influence on you. You are welcome."

"I don't think I am very welcome actually." Remus said while checking on the other members of the Quidditch team that were looking at them between surprised and angry while Potter appeared to be holding them back and looking utterly confused.

"Yeah..." Sirius eyes' followed Remus to see James making a questioning face. "I'd better be going now."

"Sure." Sirius had already turned around when Remus spoke up again "You are welcome too."

"For what?" he asked turning around to encounter Remus smiling broadly, as he had never seen him do before. Sirius' heart made something weird in his chest.

"For having me as your friend."

Sirius laughed and without giving any further answer runned back to his friends. His other friends. As Remus turned to encounter Erick near the castle patio, where he had been waiting.


End file.
